Abstract

DIAZ-CARDOZO, Eduard Mauricio et al. Clinical, cardiac ultrasonography, and electrocardiographic findings in blood donors who were found to be seropositive for Trypanosoma cruzi infection in a reference center in southern Colombia. Acta méd. Peru [online]. 2017, vol.34, n.3, pp.188-195. ISSN 1728-5917.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the clinical characteristics and the electrocardiographic and cardiac ultrasonography findings in patients who had positive serology test results for Chagas’ disease in a reference center in southern Colombia. Materials and methods: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study in which we assessed all blood donating events in the blood bank of the Hernando Moncaleano-Perdomo Hospital in Neiva Huila, Colombia, from January, 2011 to December, 2014. Patients more than 18 years old who had positive results in the serum IgG measurement for Trypanosoma cruzi, which had to be confirmed afterwards using indirect immunofluorescence for IgG detection. The patients had a medical history taken, they underwent physical examination, transthoracic cardiac ultrasonography, and electrocardiographic continuous 48-hour monitoring. Results: Nearly forty-two thousand (41,865) blood donors were recorded in the blood bank. The prevalence of T. cruzi infection was 0.15%, the average age of the subjects was 47.8 years, two thirds (68.42%) were male, and most came from urban areas. An important proportion of patients presented with some symptoms related to Chagas’ disease cardiopathy, most had alterations in the left ventricular ejection fraction and all of them showed at least one electrocardiographic abnormality. The finding in the index of heart rate variability should be considered as a possible early indicator in this pathology, before the presence of structural alterations that could generate a symptomatic heart failure

Keywords : Chagas disease; Chagas cardiomyopathy; Blood donors; Echocardiography; Electrocardiography, ambulatory.

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